Irving Caesar

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Irving Caesar was an American lyricist and composer, mainly for the theatre. He was born on 4 July 1895 in New York as Isidor Keiser, the son of a Romanian-Jewish lawyer. His older brother Arthur became a screenwriter in Hollywood. The brothers grew up in Yorkville, the same Manhattan neighbourhood as the Marx Brothers. Around 1901 Irving wrote his first poem.

Music and breakthrough

In his career he worked with many composers, such as Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin, Sigmund Romberg, Victor Herbert, Ted Koehler and Ray Henderson. He wrote the lyrics of standards such as Swanee, Sometimes I'm Happy and Crazy Rhythm. With Vincent Youmans he wrote I Want to Be Happy and Tea for Two for the musical No, No, Nanette in 1925. The latter is one of the most recorded songs ever. He also worked on revues such as the Greenwich Village Follies from 1922 to 1924.

Influence

At the end of the 1930s he wrote a series of children's songs about safety, friendship and health with Gerald Marks. He performed hundreds of times in schools. He sat on the board of ASCAP, the organisation that administers rights for songwriters, for almost thirty years, and co-founded the Songwriters Guild of America. In 1972 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His lyrics are simple and singable, and showed how the American popular song took shape in the theatre of the 1920s. He died in 1996, aged one hundred and one.

Listening

Mentioned in other articles

• Swanee SongIn 1919 he wrote Swanee, with the lyricist Irving Caesar.